The world’s most powerful intelligence-gathering body- the Five Eyes group comprising the US, the UK, New Zealand, Canada and Australia, might just have got compromised. With Biden’s purported victory, two susceptible members of the Five Eyes group- Trudeau’s Canada and Jacinda Ardern’s New Zealand are succumbing to Chinese pressure. Within Canada, the pro-China lobby has reinvigorated efforts to get Chinese tech major Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou released and New Zealand is by itself infested with Chinese influence.
The Five Eyes is supposed to lead the free world’s fight against the Communist-authoritarian giant called China. But the rot has clearly set in Canada and New Zealand, which could as well ruin efforts to corner the paper Dragon.
As far as Canada is concerned, two Parliamentarians- Niki Ashton of the NDP and Paul Manly of the Greens are taking part in a campaign to release Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou. They cite “deteriorating relations with China and the rise of Sinophobia in Canada”, as the reason behind their campaign to get the Huawei executive released.
The controversy over Meng Wanzhou arrest and detention in Canada is the defining characteristic of Sino-Canada tensions. In 2018, Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Vancouver on a US fraud warrant. China being China had arrested two Canadian nationals- Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, and Michael Spavor, a businessman, as a tit-for-tat measure, merely days after Meng’s arrest in Canada.
Trudeau’s own career has been riddled with allegations of having a soft corner for China. Earlier this year, Rebel Media commander Ezra, Levant released an exposé, China Virus: How Justin Trudeau’s Pro-Communist Ideology Is Putting Canadians in Danger. The self-published book described what the author called, “Trudeau family’s obsession with China,” which is alleged to go as far back as “Pierre Trudeau’s support for that Communist dictatorship.”
Trudeau is generally not very harsh on China but was compelled to speak up against the detention of Canadian nationals by China. The Canadian Prime Minister was clearly overawed by Trump’s harsh line against Beijing. But immediately after Biden’s purported victory in the US Presidential polls, there are clear signs of the pro-China lobby in Canada getting stronger. And this lobby wants to remove the biggest instigator of Sino-Canada tensions, by getting Meng Wanzhou released.
As for New Zealand, Prime Minister and Labour Party leader Jacinda Ardern has been facing allegations of being pro-China in her approach. New Zealand is dependent for its exports on China, which places it in a rather precarious situation. And then Jacinda is no Scott Morrison. Unlike her Australian counterpart, New Zealand’s PM would never fight against Chinese human rights violations and political interference at the cost of trading ties with the Middle Kingdom.
New Zealand had even let the Five Eyes down earlier this year. When it had become clear that China would rob Hong Kong of all its cherished freedoms, the Five Eyes countries had released a joint statement condemning China’s actions. But when the statement came out, it was signed by only four of the countries in the group- Australia, the US, the UK and Canada. New Zealand had then released a separate, similarly worded statement on the issue.
Ardern was, therefore, making it clear that she would walk the tightrope on China, instead of making New Zealand a part of any alliance against Beijing.
Canada and New Zealand are therefore two insiders that are weakening the Five Eyes Alliance from inside. This assumes significance as China has been speaking about poking the Five Eyes blind. Trudeau and Ardern have little credibility on the China front, and their presence in the Five Eyes is, therefore, incredibly dangerous for the world’s most powerful intelligence-gathering alliance.